VSCO Pro Tips for Editing Summer Photos

Summer vacation means a lot of things: hanging out with friends, going to the beach and pool, and taking lots and lots of photos to document your time off from school. But in an age where "pics or it didn't happen" is basically the golden rule, we're all trying to make sure that our summer snaps look their best before we post them to, um, every single social media account we have. That's where VSCO often comes in. The app is known for its diehard fanbase of photographers who use the fine-tuned editing settings to bring their art to the next level. And while we may not all have an eye that can capture the most gorgeous of photographs, we can all learn a thing or two about how to make our pics shine.

So we asked avid VSCO user Nicole Wong (@tokyoto on the app), a Vancouver-based freelance photographer and creative marketing lead in the luxury goods industry, to share her best tips about editing in the app.

"I've been a user of VSCO since the early days of Instagram as I've always preferred the filters and features," Nicole says. "For me, it isn't about completely changing the look of a photo but rather, to enhance it — which is what I find VSCO best for. And on top of the editing features, I really like that VSCO is an app that allows its users to share photos without the pressure of likes, engagement and follows."

"The VSCO users I'm inspired by and admire greatly are Axel Oswith (axeloswith) and Jonathan Schoonover (jonschoonover). I think what I love about their work is their abilities to capture a story or feeling within a single frame. I also think the way they capture color is fantastic and it truly moves me."

Read on to see how Nicole edits her photos in VSCO, what she looks for, and some before and afters (complete with setting adjustments) to help guide you on your next editing adventure.

Before

For this photo, the main thing I wanted to achieve was a sense of warmth. I opted for the A4 filter which immediately made my photo warmer in tone and brought out more of the yellow and brown undertones. I also upped the Temperature to warm the photo up a bit more and played around with the Exposure and Contrast tools to bring a bit more focus on the people in the photo. Finally to round out my edits, I usually use the Sharpen and Grain tools. I like adding a tiny bit of texture to a photo because to me, it adds a bit of depth and visual interest.

After

Before

With so many strong colors that I wanted to bring out in this photo, I chose to use the K3 filter. I brought the level of the filter down a couple of notches to lessen the intensity of the filter while also maintaining the color saturation. The rest of the editing I did on this photo was to straighten the image out, crop out the leg and man on the far right side, sharpen it, and add some grain for texture.

After

Before

This photo was the simplest of edits and sometimes that's all a photo requires. You don't need to go crazy and use every single tool because you think that's what a photo needs. I went for the A6 filter on this photo, which is one of my most used. The biggest change about this photo was the crop. I wanted to focus on the seagulls so I cropped the image in such a way to change the original orientation and frame the seagulls better. I finished off the image with my usual sharpening and adding of grain and that was it for this photo.